The Marvels Review | The MCU Returns to Having Some Lighthearted Fun

Summary

• In his alternate review of The Marvels, Richard Fink believes the film delivers a fun time at the movies, overcoming rushed storytelling with the wonderful performances between the three leads and strong characterization.
• Larson, Parris, and Velani have fantastic chemistry together, making their interactions infectious and highly watchable.
• Director Nia DaCosta brings a refreshing stylistic vision to The Marvels, with vibrant colors and bold comic book-inspired visuals, reminding audiences of the fun and joy of the MCU.

The Marvels is the biggest risk of the MCU since the release of Avengers: Endgame. Not only is the movie a sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, but it also picks up on plot points from two Disney+ shows, WandaVision and Ms. Marvel (don’t worry, they wisely pretend Secret Invasion did not happen and that’s fine; the less said about it, the better). It also has to deal with a wave of toxic fan criticism against star Brie Larson that has been permeating for years. Not to mention needing to bear the weight of the massive expectations following not only a year of many significantly disappointing superhero movies at the box office, but many fans turning on the MCU after lackluster installments like Moon Knight, Thor: Love and Thunder, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Secret Invasion.

Thankfully, The Marvels is delightful and delivers a fun time at the movies that remind viewers what has made the MCU such a fan favorite for years. It certainly is not perfect and is a movie that feels a bit chopped up and rushed. Yet, it easily overcomes any of those issues thanks to the wonderful chemistry between the three leads, the strong characterization of the heroes, and a true sense of style from director Nia DaCosta.

Marvel Gets Its Groove Back

Marvel Studios

Thankfully, one does not have to have seen Ms. Marvel or WandaVision beforehand to enjoy The Marvels, because the movie sums up what the audience needs to know. It’s just like how one didn’t need to see all the Phase 1 MCU movies before The Avengers to understand it, but if you did, there were some rewarding moments.

The plot is straightforward. A Kree villain, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), finds the other half of the bangle worn by Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani). When Dar-Benn activates the bangle, it not only triggers Kamala’s, but also makes a point in space that Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) are investigating. This entangles the three women’s powers so that they switch places if they are using their abilities at the same time. The three heroes must work together to stop Dar-Benn from wreaking havoc on the universe while also learning to work as a team.

If the plot sounds simple, it is. That is a partial flaw of the film, as the script certainly feels rushed at times, but it also understands the main thing everyone is here for — the character interactions between Carol, Monica, and Kamala. The movie quickly establishes the stakes, the rules, and the powers, so it can spend a good chunk of time allowing the characters to bounce off one another and work together.

This is the real highlight of the film and what makes some of its mistakes forgivable. Larson, Parris, and Velani have such fantastic chemistry together that it is infectious, and one can’t help but have a good time. It is great to see Kamala become starstruck around Captain Marvel, while it is also great seeing Carol and Monica deal with resentment over old family wounds, and it is excellent to see Kamala inspire Monica to embrace her status as a hero.

The secret to the MCU’s success has always been character interactions. What made audiences fall in love with this franchise was not the big action scenes but the character interactions, particularly in The Avengers, where they got to see how everyone interacted with one another. General audiences didn’t care about Thanos before Avengers: Infinity War, but they were drawn in to see Thor meet the Guardians of the Galaxy or Doctor Strange interact with Iron Man. This has been an element lacking from many MCU projects (where are all the heroes?), aside from a few cameos here and there, but The Marvels gives viewers that feeling they’ve been missing from prior entries.

The Three Marvels

Marvel Studios

The three stars are just phenomenal. Larson is great as Captain Marvel. This was overlooked by many with her first film, but she has done a great job imbuing Carol Danvers with plenty of personality traits and quirks to make her a fascinating character. Carol is not a “no-nonsense” hero but one who can cut loose a bit, though she knows when to be serious. She has a lot of great human moments of wit and levity that go a long way to making her a well-rounded character and just as well-defined as Chris Evans did with Captain America or Robert Downey Jr. did with Iron Man.

While Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau is still the more “serious” member of the group, as she was on WandaVision, the film does a great job establishing her own sense of humor and truly brings her to life. In many ways, this film is her superhero origin story, and she gets plenty of show-stopping scenes that make her worthy of being a Marvel legend.

Related: Why The Marvels Could Be the Turning Point of the MCU Phase 5

Yet it is undoubtedly Iman Vellani who steals the show. Vellani already wowed audiences with Ms. Marvel (hopefully, the film inspires people to watch her Disney+ show if they have not already). The joy that the character feels interacting with other heroes is similar to how Vellani herself feels, and that comes across in every scene. What has always gone underappreciated about Vellani’s performance has been how well she can sell dramatic moments. She is one of the great on-screen criers, where just her sad face can break the heart of any viewer and sell the gravity of any scene. Any flaws in the movie have been patched over by the positive spirit Kamala Khan brings to the adventure, and cements the character and star Iman Vellani as the true heart and soul of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga.

This even extends to the supporting players. While it is great to see the heroes interact with one another, the film wisely realizes these characters have a rich cast of supporting characters. Kamala’s family gets a lot of screen time, having been one of the best parts of her Disney+ show, and putting them in scenes alongside Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury makes for some of the movie’s funniest moments.

Nia DaCosta’s Directorial Vision

Marvel Studios

Stepping into the director’s chair is Nia DaCosta, whose previous films include the underrated Little Woods and the horror relaunch Candyman. Marvel Studios previously hired Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck to helm Captain Marvel, and they brought their more naturalistic style to the film. Captain Marvel is filled with handheld camera work in quiet character moments and emphasizes tactile real environments found in their previous work, like Half Nelson or Mississippi Grind. DaCosta brings a drastically different vision for The Marvels, one where she has the most fun playing in such a large sandbox.

DaCosta has expressed her love of Marvel Comics in the past before, and it is apparent on screen. The space, both the literal cosmic space and the sets the actors inhabit, is bolder than before. It feels like something out of a classic Marvel Comic from the 1970s. The movie pulls from so many ideas and concepts from Marvel’s history, filled with fun, silly civilizations, alien politics, and massive destructive McGuffins; it at times feels like Marvel’s answer to Star Trek, which unintentionally makes The Marvels the best Star Trek movie since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond.

Colors are vibrant and pop, like in a comic book. The MCU has often been criticized for conveying the same similar style, grayish hues often called “wet concrete,” but The Marvels is looking to bring a sense of bold color saturation and flashy comic book style editing that hearkens back to the days of Ang Lee’s Hulk or The Wachowskis’ Speed Racer. For any audience member who was put off by the stylistic flourishes Sam Raimi was allowed to bring into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, they likely will bounce off The Marvels, because Nia DaCosta brings some refreshing stylistic choices to the film. One scene, in particular, feels designed to turn off a certain subset of fans who wants everything to be serious, but it is a delightful moment that the MCU should lean into more.

For as much freedom as Marvel Studios might have given DaCosta in some areas, the weakest element might be where the studio likely interfered.

A Major Crossover Event Compressed Into a Single Issue

Marvel Studios

All that praise aside, there is one major issue working against The Marvels, and that is the script. Not so much the story but how it is told. At times, it feels like it is trying to balance so many studio notes and fit too much plot into the movie, which results in a breakneck pace. Working it into less than a two-hour run makes many plot points and character interactions rushed. The movie would certainly benefit from a few extra minutes to let it breathe and allow for more character moments. It is the equivalent of compressing a six-issue comic run into a single issue, which, to be fair, could describe the plotting of a lot of Silver Age Marvel Comics, but when they looked to emulate the comics, that likely is not what they meant.

This hurts the film’s main villain, Dar-Benn. She is undoubtedly a disappointing return to the weak Marvel villains of Kaecilius and Malekith the Accursed, and like them, a very talented actor is wasted in a thinly written role. In fact, the comparison to Malekith feels appropriate because, at times, her plan gets similarly close to Thor: The Dark World territory. This gets into one of the most frustrating aspects of what is a solid, entertaining movie.

Related: Every Woman-Led MCU Release So Far (& Others We’re Excited About)

Captain Marvel was one of the MCU’s most political films, not in the way that many online grifters want to claim about “SJW,” but in terms of thematics. The plot of Captain Marvel was about Carol Danvers coming to terms with the fact that she had been told a lie and that the “enemy” terrorist was, in fact, a victim of colonization. The sequel picks up on that idea in a thematic way. Carol Danvers took it upon herself to do what she thought was right, destroy the Supreme Intelligence, and “free” the galaxy from the Kree Empire. This led to years of conflict across the galaxy as the Kree government destabilized and left the people of Hala on an unlivable planet.

The idea of examining Carol Danvers through the lens of American interventionist politics is a really strong one, particularly given her background in the Air Force. This is thematically rich territory for the MCU that they feel a bit too nervous to commit to (especially during the current situation unfolding in Gaza). The film pays lip service to it, but because of how underdeveloped the villain is, this plot point feels like it falls flat, and the movie does not reach the heights it should. While Captain Marvel has a stronger script, The Marvels’ character moments and performances make it the stronger entry.

The Marvels Remembers That Superhero Stories Can Be Fun

Marvel Studios

The Marvels is brief but extremely infectious in its good-time nature. Comic book movies can tackle weighty subjects and can be epics, but that doesn’t mean that is all they should be or that the ones that don’t are lesser or holding the genre down. Sometimes, a superhero movie can be fun. Fun does not just mean being satirical or bloody. It can be just about having a sincere team-up.

The Marvels does show how “fun” has been absent from a lot of MCU titles lately. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ditched the tone of the first two films for an overly serious one that was a major disappointment. At the same time, Secret Invasion was surface-level dark storytelling with nothing to say, and Loki season two has been running in place. And as fun as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was, it was a much more serious and, at times, horrific tale.

The Marvels is the first time in a long time that it feels like the MCU is just having fun with itself and the fun world they have made. It is a party, one that wants the audience to enjoy a good time. Like The Avengers or The Guardians of the Galaxy before them, hopefully, The Marvels return.

The Marvels opens in theaters on November 10, 2023. You can watch the recent trailer below:

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